McCain gave the lie to his ‘change’ pledge (ok, that ship sailed a long time ago) by backing Bush’s welfare for…. um, sorry, bailout for ailing financial institutions that even his conservative supporters can’t stomach. What leadership he showed by suspending his campaign (how exactly does that work with his operatives still campaigning and ads running?) to rush to Washington where fellow Republicans were waiting for him to swoop in and save the day. Instead, his supporting Bush apparently scuttled bipartisan work on an alternative plan that would help homeowners and not reward scumbag bankers leaving everything shot to hell. As Rep. Waxman, chairman Ways and Means put it, “It’s hard to imagine where we go from here.”

Inside an intense White House meeting over the financial crisis on Thursday, where nearly every key player came to an agreement on the outlines of the bailout package, Sen. John McCain stuck out. The Republican candidate, according to sources with direct knowledge, sat quiet through most of the meeting, never offered specifics, and spoke only at the end to raise doubts about the rough compromise that the White House and congressional leaders were nearing.

McCain’s reluctance to jump on board the bailout agreement could throw the entire week-long negotiation into a tailspin. Sen. Chris Dodd, after leaving the White House, suggested on CNN that the tenuous process could be derailed by what he viewed as McCain’s political motives.

Add to that the latest weirdness like the Letterman debacle, Palin’s utter inability to say anything beyond the party line (after weeks of coaching) in the Couric interview (and even that badly), and all the rest (the sheer volume of distortions, missteps and what have you is mind boggling) and you have to wonder what’s next. Could the TV talking heads be right that just before the election McCain will ‘see the light’ and replace Palin with a heavyweight? Will McCain himself step aside, for the good of the country, allowing an even bigger heavyweight to run for President? In a campaign as goofy as this, I’ve reached the point where I believe anything is possible.

For all Obama’s faults, even if you disagree with his policies, wouldn’t you rather have him in the White House than the mess that McCain/Palin is daily showing they are?

Anyway, as Washington plays politics, more of our financial underpinnings crumble.

JPMorgan to buy WaMu

JPMorgan Chase acquired the banking assets of Washington Mutual late Thursday after the troubled thrift was seized by federal regulators, marking the biggest bank failure in the nation’s history and the latest stunning twist in the ongoing credit crisis.

Under the deal, JPMorgan Chase will acquire all the banking operations of WaMu, including $307 billion in assets and $188 billion in deposits.




  1. MikeN says:

    Here’s a solution. Let’s have McCain step aside since his campaign finance chair was a lobbyist for Fannie Mae. Let Barack Obama show us the way out. We know he can do it, because his own campaign finance chairman was responsible for the biggest bank failure of the first half of the decade, Superior Bank. In that case, the chairman ended up agreeing to pay $460 million over 15 years in settlement, for bringing the bank to bankruptcy after convincing regulators to let them into the sub-prime market.

  2. Lou Minatti says:

    “For all Obama’s faults, even if you disagree with his policies, wouldn’t you rather have him in the White House than the mess that McCain/Palin is daily showing they are?”

    No, Davey Doo. Obama was the #1 recipient of graft and bribes from Fannie and Freddie. Try to keep up.

  3. #1 – Lyin’ Mike

    Penny Pritzker didn’t have jack shit to do with the Superior Bank failure. It was all the legacy of her uncle, Jay Pritker. She was just a pretty face for the family. And the FAMILY (not her) agreed to pay the $460 million.

    Tsk tsk, Lyin’ Mike. Isn’t there enough subterfuge and dishonesty in the Republican Party already, without contributing to it?

  4. Uncle Dave says:

    #1&2: So, you’re both saying you’d rather have an incompetent as President, facing down the world’s threats, rather than a possible crook? Before answering that, point me to a politician on the national level that isn’t just a little dirty to one degree or another.

  5. Lou Minatti says:

    “So, you’re both saying you’d rather have an incompetent as President”

    Agreed, Barack “I’ve been to 57 states” Obama is incompetent. Obama is a third-rate political hack from the mean streets of Chicago, with no experience whatsoever managing anything. Why would any sane person want him and Joey Hairplugs running the show? Even Joey Hairplugs admits he is out of his element. Heck, Joey Hairplugs says that Hillary would have been a better choice. That’s some endorsement of Obama’s skill set.

    Obama has an easy out for whatever problem arises. He will say it is “beyond his pay grade.”

  6. ECA says:

    WE NEED ANOTHER PARTY…

    These folks DONT WANT the job, they are throwing it AWAY…
    THEY KNOW what is going to happen.
    THEY SET IT UP..

    the next person to get the job, will have to LIVE DOWN what GB did, and what is about to COME UP..
    THEY are dumping the job into someone ELSES hands..

  7. Max Bell says:

    #5: You’re gonna love the next 8 years.

    Everybody else:

    If you bank with WaMu? This is the time to get an account statement. Seriously.

  8. Lou Minatti says:

    To those who are skeptical of Saint Obama: Be careful of what you say here and on other blogs. Team Obama and the Democrat Party (the once and always party of hate) wants to arrest you if you say anything negative about Barry Soetoro.

    “The Barack Obama campaign is asking Missouri law enforcement to target anyone who lies or runs a misleading TV ad during the presidential campaign.”
    -KMOV, St, Louis

    http://www.kmov.com/video/index.html?nvid=285793&shu=1

  9. Lou Minatti says:

    “WE NEED ANOTHER PARTY…”

    I agree with this. But there is no law prohibiting such an action. Give me a sane third party candidate and I’ll consider it. Unfortunately the majority of third party candidates are kooks and/or racists. Look at Ron Paul, for example. So many people think he is The Answer, but they gloss over his extreme racist past.

  10. Spats says:

    I heard Obama voted ‘Present’ again…

  11. #5 – iLLuminati

    >>Barack “I’ve been to 57 states” Obama
    >>is incompetent.

    Aw, come on. That was a slip of the tongue. Just like his “breathalyzer/ inhaler” gaffe, which he immediately recognized and corrected.

    McBush, on the other hand, exhibits a profound and far-reaching ignorance of key elements of today’s society.

    And Palin? Weeeeeeeel, I’d like to see her in a bikini.

  12. Knatchwa says:

    Which is why we need to see the full color spectrum from Red & Blue to the colors in between. The fact of the matter is something needs to be done but the big challenge is finding someone who could make it worthwhile and actually make a difference.

  13. #10 – Spats

    >>I heard Obama voted ‘Present’ again…

    Hey, at least he was there. Since 1993, McBush is the undisputed champion of MISSED VOTES IN THE SENATE.

    Better not start throwing stones when you’re in one of McBush’s intederminate number of glass houses.

  14. Bill says:

    OK, that’s it! My mind has been made up!
    ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!!!!

  15. hhopper says:

    Is it just me or is this country getting more fucked up every second?

  16. John Paradox says:

    # 12 Knatchwa said,
    Which is why we need to see the full color spectrum from Red & Blue to the colors in between.

    I read this and thought: ROYGBIV

    Red (Republican)
    Orange (Election Threat Level)
    Yellow (Bush-bashers: George W Bush’s ANG)
    Green (‘terrarists’)
    Blue (Democratic)
    Indigo
    Violet

    Didn’t have anything for the last two, but they’re not ‘between’ red and blue

    😉

    J/P=?

  17. fred says:

    While everyone is bickering about a mere 700 billion dollars, remind me again about the size of the pentagon budget. The latter is 100% financed by the taxpayer, with no chance of a financial return in the future, and yet no one appears to get angry about it.

  18. Buzz says:

    I’m so glad to see how presidential JMcM looks after having rushed back to Washington to save us from our worst enemy, Fear Itself.

    And his amazingly decisive level of intense leadership through all this tells us exactly what we wanted to know.

    About him.
    About his tactical maneuvers.
    About his VP choice.
    About how he thinks.
    About how he multi-tasks.
    About how he has changed over the last year.
    About his priorities.
    About how he tells us what his priorities rilly rilly are.
    About how he communicates.
    About how he handles a crisis.
    About how he tells us about how he handles a crisis.

    We’ve learned a lot.

  19. #19 – Mr. Flintstone

    >>While everyone is bickering about a mere 700
    >>billion dollars, remind me again about the
    >>size of the pentagon budget.

    From the NYT, Feb 3, 2008:

    When the Pentagon on Monday unveils its proposed 2009 budget of $515.4 billion, annual military spending, when adjusted for inflation, will have reached its highest level since World War II.“.

    Chump change.

    Although that figure does not include “supplemental war spending” or nukes.

    So it’s probably in the same ballpark.

    Imagine that. For the cost of all those $600 toilet seats, armorless Humvees, and everything else it takes to keep the world free for democracy in an entire year, we’re blowing our whole was in one weekend to bail out a bunch of shitty hedge fund managers and failed CEOs.

    MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

  20. BigCarbonFoot says:

    If either side had a strong candidate, this would be a done deal.

    So what do we have at the moment? Rumors that Palin will be replaced, rumors the Biden will drop out, looming financial disaster where the Dems announce a deal, an hour later Reps say no deal, an hour later Bush call them all to the Whitehouse. Maybe McCain was quiet for political reasons, maybe he was quiet because what the others were saying was ridiculous beyond belief, who knows?

    #17 – you got it right. This stuff is happening too fast to digest. It’s kind of similar to the Singularity theory.

    One thing I do know – media political analyst would be the best job on Earth at the moment – those folks are in heaven.

  21. LibertyLover says:

    I think people are forgetting that a bailout, any bailout, is the worst possible solution.

    The fact they can’t agree on anything is good. If this keep this up for a year, the market should start to come out of its problems on its own.

    Stronger companies buy weaker companies. That’s how it works (or is supposed to work). If the bailout had proceeded this week, WaMu would still be in business trying to float all those bad loans.

    It is GOOD they were bought.

  22. lionsfan54 says:

    My problem with Obama is his lack of leadership. He’s smart, bright, and a good guy. But every time there has been a crisis during this campaign (Georgia, Iran, the bailout, etc) he changes his course after two days.

    His first reaction/instinct has been wrong every time. It’s not until his advisers talk to him does he then sound like the candidate he should be.

    Obama is great a digesting information and listening to all sides. But he seems more suited to be a #2 guy than the #1 guy.

    This isn’t a bad thing, lots of #2 guys are in the hall of fame, but not everyone is cut out to be Jordan.

  23. It all reminds me of reptiles and snakes as the lowest forms of life

  24. The Crash of 2008 says:

    Next week there might not be an ATM or credit card working anywhere in the world and here we have Obama who wants to debate. He’s a friggin idiot.

  25. Of Course says:

    The next step:

    A NEW WAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Yeah, that will distract us!

  26. BigBoyBC says:

    I haven’t decided on a canidate yet, but I was kind of put off by the media seeming to lay the whole future of this bailout on how McCain votes.

    Now the House Dems are blaming McCain for screwing things up, because he wouldn’t sign onto the Administration’s deal right away.

    Listening to the House Repubs this morning, I get the impression they are the reason for the break down, not McCain.

    I hope he does the debate tonight, the house members don’t seem to want either presidential canidates involved.

    TIN-FOIL HAT MOMENT:

    Anyone think this whole “Crisis” is just an excuse for the bigboys to buy up the other guys? I was just think’n

  27. Mac Guy says:

    Jesus… You guys are bitching about this whole bailout, and here’s a guy who says, “I’m not so sure this is the way.” Now you bitch about him not getting on board and falling in line?

    What is it that you want? Apparently, you want a magic, silver bullet to solve all the financial problems.

    Guess what. It doesn’t exist. This is going to be a long, hard road.

  28. #23 – Bigfoot

    So what do we have at the moment? Rumors that Palin will be replaced, rumors the Biden will drop out, looming financial disaster where the Dems announce a deal, an hour later Reps say no deal, an hour later Bush call them all to the Whitehouse.

    Sounds just like a third-world banana republic, which is what we’re rapily becoming.

    Mission Accomplished???

  29. Mr. Fusion says:

    Judging from the right wing nut responses, it is easy to determine the IQ level of Republican supporters is getting closer to single digits every day.

    Supposedly “you can’t make this stuff up”, yet here we have the morally and intellectually bankrupt right wing nuts spewing their bigotry and lack of intelligence.

    Lyin’ Mike, so many times I have wondered if you aren’t really a DU troll thrown in here by the editors just to raise the response level. No one can that stupid naturally.

    Lou, you have violated the posting guidelines more times in the past six months than everyone else combined. Judging from your comments that were allowed to post, I shudder to think of what did violate the guidelines.

    Pedro, I can’t remember the last time you posted anything insightful. All of your posts denigrate without offering anything in return.

    BigCarbonFootprint, what a waste of carbon.

    There are many other trolls from the wing nut side. It’s too early in the day to get all worked up over idiots.

  30. jerry says:

    how come no one is reporting that bush, mccain, obama and palin are all related?


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